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The new Twins front office didn’t make any big splashes this week, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t get anything done. The 2017 Winter Meetings have come and gone, and the Twins are basically still sitting in the same place they were before the meetings began. The team didn’t make any big splashes, just signed a new minor leaguer or two. There were a lot of Brian Dozier trade rumors, but no

Why did the Twins do what they did yesterday? This brief piece of dramatic fiction hopefully explains it. Twins Executive Vice President Derek Falvey and General Manager knock on the door of Twins CEO Bill Pohlad. He tells them to come in.
DEREK FALVEY: Bill, we have some good news. Thad and I picked up Miguel Diaz in the Rule 5 Draft. He’s that righty from the Brewers we talked about. We re

The Twins got creative with their number one pick in the Rule 5 draft, flipping him for the Angels’ number eight pick. The MLB Rule 5 Draft took place this morning at 8:00 am CT, and was completed less than 40 minutes later. Since the Twins sucked the most in 2016, they got to pick first, and selected RHP Miguel Diaz from the Brewers.
But the plan was never to keep Diaz.
Instead, the Twins

The White Sox made another huge trade, the Twins continued to stay pat, and some other notes from the day. Day three of the Winter Meetings has basically come and gone, and the Twins still haven’t made any big moves. There were, however, big moves today that affected the Twins, and some other tidbits of note.
Here’s the deets.
All of Nats pitching prospects are belong to White Sox
If tradin

Looking at the players the White Sox got in return, it appears that two of them in particular may become troublesome to the Twins in just a couple years. The Chicago White Sox. A team that approached mediocrity in a slightly different fashion from the Twins over the past few years. Whereas the Twins seemed to understand they weren’t going anywhere but also weren’t willing to embrace a full

Brian Dozier seems to have impressed the Twins’ new front office, Chris Sale changed his Sox, and other notes from day two of the MLB Winter Meetings. Day two of the MLB Winter Meetings is basically in the books, and included some highly interesting moves for the AL Central division—although a Brian Dozier trade was not one of them.
Here’s the rundown.
Chris Sale changes his sox
Obviously t

Wahoo! Here are the links:
As you may have heard, Tom Mee—the first Minnesota Twins employee, and 2013 Twins Hall of Fame inductee—passed away last week. Tom Powers wrote this long retrospective on Mee back in 2007, recounting the time Billy Martin tries to punch him and A.J. Pierzynski tries to kill him. R.I.P. Tom.
Remember a few weeks when the Twins tried to take John Ryan Murphy Adam Br

The Twins have mostly just been fielding questions about Brian Dozier, but there are a few other notes too. The Winter Meetings are here! Today was the first official day and the Twins did... not very much! That’s okay—we don’t want them to make and rash decisions, do we?
There have been plenty of rumors and speculation, though, in addition to moves by other teams. Here’s a rundown of the da

The huge news broke sometime Sunday night that the Twins signed Ben Paulsen to a minor league contract—but who is he, and why is he here? The Winter Meetings are underway this week, meaning we’re likely to see some sizzling action happen on the off-season hot stove. In fact, the Twins wasted no time, signing Ben Paulsen to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.
If th

The whole premise of that headline is dependent on a technicality, but I'm pedantic so I'm running with it. Johan Santana is of course the best Rule 5 player the Twins have employed, but -- and I'm preaching to the choir here -- he was actually selected by the Marlins with the second pick of the 1999 Rule 5 draft, then promptly traded to Minnesota for cash and the Rule 5 rights to fellow pit

5 Rule 5 targets because that sounds nice. A few days ago the Twins non-tendered right-hander Yorman Landa, opening up a spot on the 40 man roster. With the top pick (another consolation prize for being the worst!) in Thursday’s Rule 5 draft, the Twins could nab anyone they want. If they want anyone. Speculation is fun! If the Twins do pick someone and it isn’t one of these, my next article

This feels like some sort of jedi mind trick. You know how the Twins have had that tendency to fire people in the organization only to rehire them in different roles (Bill Smith, Ron Gadrenhire, etc.)? Well, former GM Terry Ryan just completely flipped the script. Despite bringing in totally new front office leaders, they still offered a spot for Terry if he wanted it; but Terry was like, “N

Minnesota plucks new hitting coach from the Yankees, while their former GM announces his departure The Twins’ new hitting coach will be Yankees minor league hitting coordinator James Rowson. The Pioneer Press’ Mike Berardino has all the details you need. If Rowson was a positive influence on the young stars in New York (and, from 2012-13, the Chicago Cubs), then it’s probably a good hire. Wh

The latest news and topics swirling around the Minnesota Twins off-season rumor mill. The Twins new front office signed catcher Jason Castro (officially, as of today) and three special front-office assistants, but what else have they been up to?
Here’s a rundown of the rumors swirling about:
There’s a lot of Brian Dozier trade rumors out there, obviously, since he’s a second baseman who jus

Despite what people may say, this is good for baseball. Casual baseball fans, grab your favorite drink and a chair. You’re going to learn more about the guts of Major League Baseball than you ever imagined.
Every couple years, baseball owners and the player’s union (MLBPA) discuss the parameters for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Like other sports, they contain rule changes a

In the franchise's 56 seasons in Minnesota as the Twins, 19 pitchers have lost at least 15 games in a season one or more times for a total of 26 player-seasons. Of the 26, only six occurred during winning seasons by the team, and only two were during a winning season by the pitcher. One pitcher had both of those seasons, along with two of the five that resulted in a .500 record for the pitch

The Twins are hiring three former Twins to help whip the organization back into shape—for real. It’s official: We’re getting the band back together. Kinda.
As has been rumored and joked about over the past week, the Twins officially announced today that they have hired Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer, and LaTroy Hawkins all to serve as special assistants to baseball operations next season.
O

Former Washington Senators pitching prospect, Fidel Castro, passes away at his home in Havana, Cuba. "Comrade" Fidel Castro, was reported by Cuban news reports to have passed away at age 90 in his home in Havana, Cuba Friday. Mr. Castro, known as a "strong Lefty" was a pitching prospect for the Washington Senators in 1949 where scouts noted he had "lots of enthusiasm.' He was reportedly offe

“We figured Tony Fiore had nothing better going on. We figured right.” In the wake of news that LaTroy Hawkins, Torii Hunter, and Michael Cuddyer were all returning to an organization that already employs Eddie Guardado and Doug Mientkiewicz, the Minnesota Twins announced that they were just going to bring back everyone else from the 2002 roster, too.
“Lot of these guys are just sitting arou

Now that the Twins have their next starting catcher, Jason Castro, under contract, it seemed like a good time to look back at all of those who have preceded him. For the purpose of this quiz, I defined a starting catcher as the catcher who started the most games behind the plate in any given year. With just 20 catchers fitting that bill in 56 seasons of play, the Twins have historically been